PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE TAPIA HOUSE PUBLISHING CO. LTD., 91 TUNAPUNA RD., TUNAPUNA TEL: 662-5126.

Sir Ellis (left) seen dancing at a pqrty some years ago. The former Bt>IA Chairman learnt his "common touch in the tough school of
'international diplomacy.

the

DID Governor General
Sir Ellis Clarke also write
the 1976 Republican
Constitution?
TAPIA asks this ques-
tion following our dis-
covery last week that Sir
Ellis has been giving
lectures on the new Con-
stitution to BWIA air
hostesses at Governor
General's House.
Last Wednesday some
40 BWIA "smiling faces"
were driven to the head
of state's Botanical
Gardens mansion for the
third in a series of four
lecture sessions on the
Constitution to, which
His Excellency recently
gave his gracious assent.
Two previous sessions
were held on April 21
and 28, and TAPIA under-
stands that a final session
is scheduled for May 12.
Sir Ellis Clarke, who
was Board Chairman of
BWIA from 1968 till
when he, became Gover-
nor General in 1972, had
been closely identified

with the writing of the
1962 Independence Con-
stitution.
He was the Gov6rn-
ment's star spokesman in
the Queens Hall confer-
ence on the constitution
held that year.
HUSH-HUSH

Now as Governor
General, he is not
expected to be involved
in party political matters.
TAPIA, understands
that the GG has been
keen to avoid publicity
of his new lecturing
assignment.

Sir Ellis has not been
known to be identified
with the preparation of
the 1976 Republican
Constitution.
He did, however, go
to London 4e around the
time of the rush passage
of the Republican Con-
stitution Bill through the
PNM-controlled Parlia-
ment, reportedly for talks
with the Queen.
The Constitution was
rushed through Parlia-
ment by the Government,
allowing little time for
discussion of the Cabinet's
"drafts" the substance of
which subsequently be-

-MIEETINGS CO NTIR Y
TWO major Tapiameetings are carded for the coming week
in Cedros and Woodbrook.
In Cedros on May 14 at 6 p.m. Billy Montague,
Arnold Hood, Mickey Matthews, Stephen Douglas,
Llewellyn Belgrave, Dalton O'Neil and Anand Singh will
talk.
In Woodbrook on May 12 Dennis Pantin. Allan and
Michael Harris and Junior Wiltshire will comprise the team

came the highest law of
the land.
The Tapia House
Movement was one of the
signatories of a petition
sent to the Governor
General on March 16
urging him to "use your
high office as the last
bulwark of the people
against any attempt to
destroy the- constitu-
tional safeguards which
are a necessary part of
any true democracy."
The Governor General
was advised to send his
reply in care of the

Turn to Page 11

WIDE THIS WEEK

of which Denis Solomon will be Chairman.
This meeting will be held in Adam Smith Square.
Other meetings: Sobo, Village, La Brea, First Shop -
7 p.m.; May 10, May 11, Vance River, Guapo 7 p.m.;Cap
de Ville May 11, 5.30 p.m.; Casablanca, Cascade, 6 p.m.
May 12, Cochrane Village, 7 p.m.; May 13, St. Paul
St. P.O.S. at 5.30 p.m. and Laventille Road at 7 p.m.;May
14 Gonzales Village, Guapo 7.30.

Rodriguez, reflecting
on his last days in the
Prisons Service,
recalled that he had in
1974 received a letter of
commendation from the
Public Service Commis-
sion.
This letter had followed
his own report to that
body about his having
had to work--9V/2 hours
non-stop guarding a
prisoner at the Caura
Chest Hospital.
"Since that," he said,
"they looked on me as a
troublemaker' in the
prisons."
But he could not do
other than he had done:
to speak out against evils
he saw around him.
SAs he put it: "I couldn't
take the position that 'I
ent come to count cow,
just to drink milk'."
The spunky young man
who has one daughter and
is married. reports that
he received no support
from the Prison Services
Association.
His, former colleagues
in the Prisons who take
the cynical line of least
resistance thus keeping,
their jobs and their promo
tion opportunities now
tell him: "Man, you
throw 'way yuh wuk "
TAPIA will next week
reveal the contents of
the fateful 1974 memo-
randum to the Commis-
sion of Inquiry into the
Corrective Institutions
which cost Rodriguez his
job.
Minister of National
Security Victor Campbell
whom Rodriguez had
been allowed to see,
described it as "Black
Power" talk.
Of course, how a
memorandum to a so-
called independent Com-
mission came to ireacn
the Prison big-brass and
the Minister is another
story.

UNCLE

SAM BAR

AN OASIS
IN

DOWNTOWN GRANDE

John Rodriguez

THE Public Service Com-
mission has begun an
investigation into the
case of ex-Prison Officer
John Rodriguez who was
fired after he submitted
a critical memorandum
to the Prisons Commission
of Inquiry.
This was revealed re-
cently by the Commission
in a letter to Rodriguez'
solicitors who had written
to the PSC seeking to
have .an enquiry made
into this glaring instance
of victimisation in which
the 28-year-old officer
was first given a series of
inexplicable transfers,
--before being finally
deemed to have "re-
signed" his job.
Rodriguez' case was
exposed in TAPIA of
April 25, after fruitless
attempts to have his
story- published in the
national press.

SUICIDE

The ex-Prisons Officer,
who has since begun to
work as an insurance
salesman, told TAPIA last
week that an Express
reporter had said that by
giving the. story to
TAPIA, Rodriguez had
"committed suicide".
Pressed by Rodriguez
to explain what he meant
by that, the reporter
replied that the authori-
ties would never reopen
his case now that he had
put it in the hands of the
opposition press.

NO-JOBS GR

FIGHTING

UWI graduates who can't get jobs are getting organised.
The Black Research and Cultural Committee of the
UWI, St. Augustine, is taking up "the harrassing question
of unemployment of graduates" of the UWI.
A press release last week from the Committee, signed
by Bro. Kwesi, invited all unemployed graduates to a
meeting at Room 107, Faculty of Social Science, UWI,
on Monday, May 10 at 5 p.m. Proposals for the "correc-
tion" of graduate unemployment will be made and discus-
sed.

- I --- -S -~' T -e

ADS

PQ

bEM4

Emm

SUNDAY MAY 9, 1976

COULD WASA KNOW

WATER KANDAHAR N

THE

IEEDS?

Angela Cropper

KANDAHAR residents
swelter in the hot sun of
these days and watch
WASA water trucks by-
pass their village and head
up the hill for the mis-
sionary camp that's
called Victory 'Heights.
Not that they mind
the church-folk who camp
there on weekends getting
some water.
But the people on
Kandahar have formed
the impression that
Victory Heights gets
water that should properly
go to the village.
Except sometimes -
late at night -the villagers
get no water from their
taps to bathe.
FROLICKING

This has been going on
since 1973, they claim.
Yet the campers on
the Heights can be seen
frolicking in their swim-
ming pool. -
The villagers see no
sign that the lucky ones
staying on the hill have
to share the sacrifice. for
water.
In fact, the villagers
believe that Victory
Heights People get all the
water they need because
they have a pump which
draws the water away

from the village below.
When they told this
to Tapia Shadow Minister
for Finance Angefa
Cropper, she got the
TAPIA newspaper to
check out the position
with WASA.
The WASA Public
Relations Office last
week admitted "a pro-
blem with pipe-borne
water" in Kandahar
about which they claimed
to have received an earlier
complaint.
While Kandahar is not
really an outlying area,
it is off the Main Road'
in Tacarigua and is suffer-
ing from the general
shortage ,of pipe-borne
water, WASA informed.
The Authority's spokes-
man strenuously denied
that Victory Heights had
any pump which was
drawing water away from
Kandahar below.
ILLEGAL

Victory Heights too,
he said, is supplied with
truck-borne water, two
trips daily, when it's
asked for.
It is illegal for anyone"
to attach a private pump
to a public main.
Nor did WASA itself
attach any pump to the

1.11 FREDRICK STREET PORT-OF-SPAIN

main.
He noted that Victory
Heights does have a
private pump. to move
water fro.i their private
tank.

POOL

The WASA spokesman
denied 'that the authority
supplies water for the
camp swimming pool,
and pleaded: "I don't
know where they get
water from to fill their
pool.
"It may be," he added,
that late at nights parts
of .Kandahar get water

sometimes, and then
'Victory Heights would
get some too."
He was more certain,
though, about the water
supplied by truck to.
Kandahar.
He claimed the supply
was "satisfactory". The
Authority claims to pro-
vide four to five trips
each day.
"Their needs are filled
as far as WASAiscon-
cerned. Kandahar gets
what we would call a
regular supply, and we
haven't received any com-
plaints."

"TRIPS"

Asked to comment on
WASA's statement, Angela
Cropper said she wasn't
surprised.
"To stay in their office
and decide how much
water is enough for
villagers in any part of\
the country just illustrates
the absurdity and the
inefficiency produced in
this grotesquely over-
centralised system.
"This is the kind of
thing which shows up
the need for real local
government and com-
munity control over basic
amenities and facilities.
"It is cynical for WASA
to talk about 'trips' being

made per day when every-
body in the country
knows that a lot of these
water trucks don't deliver
the water they are sent
to deliver ,- they just
sell it, or even dump
it."

TANKS

The Tapia Shadow
Minister added that local
control of water distri-
bution could ensure a
fairer sharing so that all
would get according to
need. She referred to the
Tapia plan for short term
improvement in water
supply, of installing large
storage tanks for public
use.
"As it stands now,"
she explained, "only
those people who can
afford to put up their
own tanks can be sure of
getting anything like
enotigh water. As with
everything else here, it's
always more pressure
when you poor."
Ms- Cropper then
pointed to the poor state
of Kandahar's roads on
which repairs had begun,
only as an election gim-
mick.
And then transport
along the road was some-
thing else. No buses. No
taxis. People must walk
to the Main Road.

J.C Sealy

B THE BOOKSHOP

For all types of Books

__ _1_

TAPIA PG

SUNDAY MAY 9, 1976

EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
SHADOW MINISTER
MICHAEL HARRIS
WRITES OF'EGYPT
AS PART OF HIS
SERIES ON _"
WORLD AFFAIRS

THE FOURTH Arab-Israeli war
officially came to an end on
October 25, 1973, with the
declaration of a ceasefire on the
Sinai front. Militarily speaking,
the dispute as to which side "won"
the war goes on.
Politically and psychologic-
ally however, there is little doubt
that the war was an astounding
success for the Arab world.
For the Arabs the October
war had served to shatter the
humiliating status quo which the
Israeli were quite content to have
continue ever since they had
inflicted their devastating defeats
on the Arabs in the 1967 war.
For the Arabs the October
war also shattered the myth of.
Israel's overwhelming military
superiority and of their own mili-
tary incompetence. -
It restored to them a large
measure of the pride and hope
which had been steadfastly eroded
over the years by the relentless
Israeli advances.
Finally the October war once
more forced the Arab-Israeli con-
flict back onto the centre of the
international stage and forced
Israel into a situation where it,
could no longer refuse to negotiate.
And the man to whom the
responsibility and the triumph
clearly belonged was Egyptian
President Anwar Sadat.
Not since the early days of
Nasser's glory had Egypt or its
President stood so manifestly
. supreme in the councils of the
Arab world.
Less than three years, later
much of Sadat's prestige has dis-
appeared. Syrian President,Assad
is clearly on his way to assuming
the leadership role in the Arab
world and Sadat has earned the
enmity of not only Syria and
Libya but of the Palestinians above
all.
The main reason for this
decline in Sadat's prestige in the
Arab world is, of course, his deci-
sion to proceed by himself, to
negotiate with the United States
and Israel on the question of
disengagement in the Sinai.
Out of these negotiations
came the Sinai agreement between
Egypt and Israel which was for-
mally concluded in September of
1975.
Briefly Sinai secured

M.ililia t Pal71Itidil Jc.*'., S',r..", E t.."
the raatcal Arabs.

for Egypt formal Israeli withdraw-
al from areas in Sinai of strategic
military and economic importance
to Egypt, namely the Giddi and
Mitla passes and the Abu Rudeis
oilfield.

In return Israel gained from
Egypt that non-military cargoes
destined for Israel will be permit-
ted through the Suez canal and
the assurance that Egypt will not
blockade the Bab el Mandeb
straight which leads into the Red
Sea.

ACCORD

In additionEgypt has agreed
that the accord will remain in
operation for at least three years.
The actual terms and condi-
tions of the Agreement have
come under strenuous attack from
Arab radicals.
One commentator, Eqbal
Ahmad, writing in the January
1976 issue of "Race and Class"
has stated- that "Israel's loss is
limited and minor," and that the
accord "strains to minimise

PARRIS CONSTRUCTION
26a Raminar St. Morvant
FOR BUILDINGS OF ALL TYPES

From

Foundation to

( alH. 06--446')8
ASK FOR AIR, IAR!,S'

Fix t ures

Israel's strategic losses."
Ahmad goes on to point out
that the Israeli withdrawal did
not include the key Israeli air
base in. Rifidim, on which, ever
since the 1967 war, Israel has
relied primarily for its air superior-
ity over Egypt.
Furthermore, he claims, the
most important observation post
in, the, passes (Umm Khisheib)
has remained under Israeli occu-
pation.
But the most vehement Arab
opposition to the Sinai Agreement
does not center on the. actual
conditions of the Agreement.
Arab opposition, centers on
the, fact that in proceeding with
the negotiations at all and con-
cluding a separate agreement with
Israel, Egypt has effectively
abandoned the causes of Syria,
Jordan and above all of the
Palestinians.
ACCUSATIONS

Sadat's opponents point to
the first paragraph in Article 1 of
the Agreement, in which Sadat
agrees that the conflict between
Egypt and Israel and "in the
Middle East" shall not be resolved
Egyptian treachery and can only
lead to a split in the Arab forces
which leaves Israel in an almost
impregnable position in relation
to her continued occupation of
Syrian, Jordanian, and Egyptian
territory.
There is much truth in the
by military force but by peaceful
me a us.
Such a clause Sadat's oppo-
nents allege, is tantamount to

accusations. Shortly after the
Sinai Agreement was ratified,
Israeli Prime Minister Rabin
underscored the new situation by
announcing that Israel had no
intention of pursuing a similar
agreement with Syria over the
Golan heights.
In addition Israel, since the
agreement, has stepped up the
pace of her settlement policy
both in the Golan heights and on
the West Bank.
The fact remains however
that as far as Egypt is concerned,
the very factors which prompted
her to go to war in 1973 are those
which have prompted her to seek
and conclude an individual agree-
ment with Israel and, more than
that, to adopt a foreign policy
which can only be described as a
total departure from traditional
alignments.
In a speech which he delivered
in August of 1974, Sadat himself
gave what is the chief motive for
going .to war in 1973 and for
Egypt's behaviour since then, when
he stated that:
"Securing a loaf of bread in
1974 was not on the horizon. We
had debts due for payment in
December. according to Interna-
tional regulations, and there was
no way we could repay them. We
did not have one mil's worth of
hard currency. This was one of the
factors which contributed to my
decision to go to war, because if
1974 were to come with us in that
state, Israel would not have needed
to fire a single shot."
Very little has happened in
the years since then to change
this gloomy picture. The Egyptian
economy is still desperately sick.
In 1975 the rate of inflation
stood at 30%. The population
which stands about 40 million is
increasing at the high rate of
about three percent a year.
Egypt's economic problems
did not begin yesterday. The basic
reason for the parlous economic
conditions, is to -be found in -the
fact that Egypt has retained its
traditional agricultural bias.

DESPERATION

Yet 97% of Egypt is desert.
Moreover it was not until
Nasser came to power that any
serious attempt was made to
diversify the economic structure
and to launch a serious program
of industrialisation.
The program of diversifica-
tion however has never really
advanced to any great extent.
Investment 'capital, always des-
perately short, has been swallowed
up by the huge financial demands
posed by the military needs of
four Arab Israeli wars.
Today Egypt is a land of
desperation. Huge numbers of
the population live in desperate
poverty. The gap between the rich
and the poor is enormous.
The country's foreign earn-
ings are meager. There is.no agri-
cultural surplus for export. The
Suez Canal, a potential money-
maker, needs to be widened and
deepened if it is to accommodate
the supertankers. The estimated -

Coll'd I l onI1g. ()

--

--I

PAGE 4. APIA

SUNDAY MAY 9, 1976

DENNIS PANTIN

POLITICAL TIME ON THE AIR:

Opposition Parties
in the United States,
Lebanon, Rhodesia
and elsewhere-.
The recent policy
had specified'that free
political time would
be given after Nomina-
tion Day to all regis-
tered political parties
who were contesting

Salaam

.... dedicated to the memory of the late
Leroy Calliste (Poet-Teacher) 1943-30/5/76
. am i to sit
an' stare at these
wretched walls
an' curse .
with my memories of you ....
you ... '.poet ..
messenger of this season
refuted by ignorant ones
.... or am it to laugh ironically
to engulf lamentations
within .... benishting it from public
..... can any of these moves
truly present themselves
as aids for your ressurection?
..... you have left us . .
as Babylon the whore ....
laughs'. exclaiming conquest
in her lewd form of exaultation
an' .... mother weeps ...
with our daughters viewing-her
expressing exasperation
i, no i cannot speak of
a young warrior feeding the land
nor of spilt blood amid green vines
curling about whithered sticks .....
yet i am to yearn again
for pristine mornings
when we can meet each other
dancing the ancestral dance
through the glade like passages
of ebony
where the chanting voices of
our mothers
sisters
and daughters
make tearful our eyes
as we faintly remember
the weavers of the dust
Salaam Brother...
what more can i wish?
may thfememory of you
inspire the awakening flame
of destruction for Babylon ....

may the memory of you
enrich and nourish
the sensitivity of others
to follow us
Salaam .my brothel
PEACE!!!

Fitzroy Cook Jnr. (aged 19yrs)

*1 I-

TRINIDAD and To-
bago Television and
6 u Radio, have
broken the embargo
set by Chairman Bain's
Board for the granting
of political time o,
the airways.
It is free time for
the ruling PNM and
free time for the

WHO GETS

at least 60 per cent of
the seats in the forth-
coming General Elec-
tions in this country.
The newspapers
carried banner front-
page headlines: Free
Political time to
Opposition Parties.
If the dailies had
done their homework,
they would have
realized that Nomina-
tion Day could be as
little as seven days
before the actual Elec-
tions.
Whatever the time-
span between these
two days, the Elections
have not been called,
although the announce-
ment is expected any
morning.
The PNM is carrying
out its campaign in the
broadcast and print
"media, which are for-
ever willing to do the
.oiading of the ruling
regime.
LIMELIGHT

Almost every night,
a highly powdered
Errol Mahabir makes
an appearance. The.
Prime. Minister is now
a fixture, George
Chambers is climbing
scaffolding, and others
are turning sods for
sites that will be for-
gotten as quickly as
the last 20 years of
promises.
The Opposition is
hard put to share in
this media limelight
but American hopefuls

WHY

ship.
It is not that they
are alone in this. Mem-
bers of the Public
Service in particular
will be called upon
increasingly to play the
clerks and campaign
agents of the ruling
party.
To submit to such
intimidation, unless
one is committed to
the position, is to com-
promise not only self-
respect but to expose
oneself to the negative
impact of changes in
the future.

AND'

Jimmy Carter and
others, the ANC,
and Lebanon's Juimblatt
can make the news.
It is difficult to be
angry at Bain; he is
playing an apparently
well-; prompted role and
is consistently fascist:
he is protecting in-
terests to the last.
The tragedy is that
professionals, so-called,
in. the media, cannot
find the courage tc
stand up to the res-
ponsibility of their
occupations but rather
indulge in self-censor-

Axis
DONATION OF EITHER A VEHICLE
OR FUNDS TO REHABILITATE OLD
VEHICLE.
CONTACT: LLOYD TA YLOR
62-25241,662-5120, 6384644

TAPIAPAE

SUNDAY

PAGE 6 TAPIA

LENNOX
GRANT

IN 1970 Errol Mahabir
confided to a certain
newspaperman that it was
the Government's private
belief that C.L.R. James
was the man behind the
Black Power revolt.
That was 10 years
after James had' been
expelled from the PNM,
and four years after he
had been defeated at the
polls at the head of the
Workers and Farmers
Party.
Yet th'e political ghost
of this venerable Marxist
thinker and politician
has remained to haunt
the PNM like an un-
requited sin. Williams in
his 1969 Inward Hunger
could make only dis-
paraging references to the
man who had once been
his political and intel-
lectual mentor and later
close associate in the
early days of the PNM.
("James, repeating- him-
self, in Lawrence's phrase,
like the flushing of a WC,
ran with the rest.") P.
336

ISSUE

As recently as 19.75
Williams took public note
of a remark attributed to
James to the effect that
the. 75-year old man of
letters would not disdain
the Prime Ministership of
his country. In other
words, that James would
take the job if it came to
that.
Williams may be rnow
more concerned about
how it could come to
that, since C.L.R. James'
former, WFP associates
have regrouped under
the banner of the United
Labour Front, and have
been making as if to
contest the next General
Elections on that or some
similar ticket.
What else could ex-
plain Williams' statement
in Parliament two weeks

The PM's

ago which had the effect
of making into a national
- and even international
- issue a matter which
the Prime Minister him-
self had called "trivial"?
The Prime Minister had
risen in Parliament to
correct certain "misrepre-
sentations" in the press.
(In fact, he wanted to-
deny a TAPIA story
which suggested that he
and his Government were
party to a deal by which
C.L.R. James would agree
to be muzzled during his
visit here connected with
the BBC filming of
Beyond a Boundary.)
Once again Williams
made public selections of
official correspondence,
including a letter to the
British High Commis-
sioner which appeared
clearly to have been
written with publication
in mind.
For though the Prime
Minister claimed that his
statement had been pro-
voked by press "misre-
presentations", t h e
remarks contained in the
letter to High Commis-
sioner Diggines were
obviously aimed at James
and the Tri aidad and
Tobago public.

DOMESTIC
"Mr.- James would
know as well as anyone
else the rights of nationals
in elections, extending
/even to running as a
candidate," the Prime
Minister wrote, archly
referring to the electoral
rout James and the WFP
had suffered in 1966,
and presumably suggest-
ing that as much would
happen again if...
-Understanding t h a t
this would be the only
way he could come to
Trinidad, for the filming

WE'AK ,THE W
. RAI L >'

AND

HOW IT

HELP

BRING

BACK

CLR

James had signed a pro-
mise "that he would not
seek to involve himself
or ,be persuaded to be
involved in the domestic
politics of Trinidad.

"VISA"

James had signed on
the advice of BBC officials
who came away from
seeing NBS Chairman
Jimmy Bain convinced
that so extreme an exped-
ient was required..
And as he sat bvhfim-
self in the Press Box of
the Queen's Park Oval,'
staring stonily ahead,
James bore the,, long-
suffering air of one
,putting up with an
oppressively unreason-
able imposition.
But he was sticking
scrupulously to the
terms and conditions of
his "visa". He gave no
interviews and avoided
old political friends.
He merely gave out
that he would be back in
six weeks' time for "a

I^E^--a

W.FP. campaign being harassed oy me Governments
supporters in 1966

show o

.'' .

Eric Williams

proper trip". Just one
week had passed after
the TAPIA article carry-
ing that promise -when
Williams spoke.
It was then that he
read to the House the
letter to the British High
Commissioner. In it he
denounced the arrange-
ment proposed by the
BBC and conscientiously
adhered to by James as
"a vulgar bargain". For
all his heroic self-denial
in declining to make a
splash here appropriate
to one of his stature,
James was assailed by
Williams 'for having put
his name to "absurdity
or impudence".
Finding a convenient
head on which to fit his
old cap of "foreign inter-
ference", Williams pulled
the string tight. "The
BBC," he charged, is,
by indirection, in effect
seeking to interfere in
the domestic politics of
Trinidad and Tobago. .
an intrusion which is as
offensive as it is un-
warranted,"

OFFENCE

But not satisfied with
condemning that offence,
he called on the High,
Commissioner to inform'
the British Prime Minister
of the issue since it had
the potential to "jeo-
pardise" relations between
the two countries.
In that letter dated'
February 20, Williams
wrote that the Trinidad
and Tobago Government
"repudiated" the BBC
proposal for James to
keep quiet as a condition
for the filming to take
place.

James Bain

FOR IN THE FINAL ANAL1
WILLIAMS APPOINTEE, LIKE S
CIVIL SERVICE AND ELSEWHE
THEIR MAJOR FUNCTIONS TO C
FOR THE LEAST PEA UNDER
MA TTRESSES.

The basis of Williams'
alarm lay in that the
BBC was setting up a
situation in which C.L.R.
James would appear to
have been' unfairly put
upon by the Williams
Government.
The muzzling would
be auite believable in
Trinidad and Tobago,
where opposition is rout-
inely denied access to thl
media and all kinds of
restrictions io political
activity exist.

ABRAZO

But C.L'.R. James is a'
world-renowned figure
who is not publicly
known to have direct
connection with the
. politics of opposition
here.
One could expect,
therefore, an unusually
widespread wave of
public sympathy for him,
especially as, since the
Cuban abrazo, "Com-
munists" aren't such
fearsome things anymore.
And on such a wave
James would ride tQ
wherever it took him.
That is the scenario
which Williams saw. and
immediately sought to
block.
It is not clear whether'
James',ever found out
about Williams' February
20 letter which "repudi-
ated" the BBC-proposed
arrangements. In any
case, Jam-es went ahead
with his own pre-arranged

TAPIA PAGE 7

hypocrisy

CL.R. James

BAIN IS JUST ANOTHER
kiANY OTHERS hV THE
WHO SEE AS ONE OF
)UCTA WIRELESS SEARCH
F DOCTOR'S POLITICAL

part keeping far from
any kind of political
involvement.
And itwas James' omin-
ous promise of "a proper
trip" that must have led.
Williams to release the
correspondence.
Ironically, for all con-
cerned to preventit from
happening, James has
succeeded in staging some
kind of re-entry into,
politics here if that is
what he wanted. For the
recent issue of his visit
to his homeland without
saying anything serves to
dramatize the tightly res-
trictive nature of the
regime that Eric Williams
is running.

PRETEXT

Fittingly, the man who
gave the BBC the impres-
sion that James'wvisit here
in an election year -
under whatever pretext -
might not be tolerated,
was James A. Bain.
For Bain strutting in
his sanctioned eminence
as all-mighty Chairman
of the Board, personifies
all that is mean, narrow-
minded and backward
about the PNM egime.
No wonder Alva Clarke
aftermeeting orhearing
about Bain resolved
to approach the only
other man who could
possibly challenge Bain
for ownership of Trinidad
and Tobago. And for
once the 'leoubtable
Bain is out on a limb.

For in the firtal analysis
Bain is just another
Williams appointee, like
so many others in the
Civil Service and else-
where, who see as one
of their major functions
to conduct a tireless
search for the least pea
under the Doctor's politi-
cal mattresses.

FREEDOM
Bain made -bland re-
ference to what happened
in 1966 when James had
come to Trinidad "for
cricket", not mentioning
that restrictions had been
put on CLR's movements
something that, for the
sake of their film, the
BBC obviously, wished
to avoid happening in
1976.
And it is here that we
see 'illiams' most appal-
ling display of hypocrisy.
"Neither I nor any of my
Ministers would seek, in
any such crude fashion
as is-indicated, to circum-
vent the very clear provi-
sions in' the Constitution
of Trinidad and Tobago
guaranteeing freedom
of movement to Trinidad
and Tobago nationals -
which we assume, in the
absence of any facts to
the contrary to. be
still the status of Mr.
James. The same applies
to freedom of speech
and freedom of the press."
So righteously to
invoke Constitutional
freedoms in a land where
Customs Officers still
search your bags for
"subversive literature",
where at this moment a

Police "Moral Ethics
Squad" is assuming
powers beyond those of
the film Board of Cen-
sors, and where a Jimmy
Bain could be appointed
to preside over the state-
owned radio and televi-
sion, is to be obscene.
The, same cynicism
attends Williams facile
designation of Beyond A
Boundary as a master-
piece, when there are
other James books which
could cause a traveller
some. difficulty at the
Customs.
"For such permission
as the BBC may.need for
its film the BBC
must apply to the compe-
tent authorities, as it
appears to have done."
Williams again, laying
down the line.

CONTEXT
But in the context of
a centralised government
and a Civil Service bureau-
cracy frightened or un-
certain to take decisions,
any such application
would-almost surely have
formed the basis of a
Note To Cabinet, re-
questing a decision at
that level.
Especially if the name
of C.L.R. James is associ-
ated.
So that what Williams
and Jimmy Bain have
succeeded in doing is
giving James a portfolio
of issues with which to
launch his 1976 political
campaign here.
If that is what his
promise of a return
"proper visit" portends.

Our coverage of

THE REGION

is unsurpassed anywhere

for focus and point.

Keep a breast of the

real currents in the

Caribbean Sea.
OWING to the recent increase in the postal
rates, the Tapia House Publishing Co., Ltd., has
found it necessary to increase the subscription
rates for TAPIA.
The new rates are as follows:

.... ,' lawnmower,
furniture,
appliances, works of art,
a movie camera, stereo,
golf clubs,
a fish tank.
You name it!

With a barclayloan, you
can remodel your home,
redecorate, landscape,
buy land. A barclayloan
pays for
travel,
... children' s
education
car repairs, medical
expenses, shares. What
do you have in mind?

I im%p A

Ils~a~asr~i~Els~spp~~l-~Z~CI~

TAG 8TAPIA

-SNIA MAYL~~-~P- 9.-_ 1976---~i-La~YEL~~7m~ T--~ri^--s~-APIA PAGE 9-

Now Sadat befriends

the world

From Pg. 4
cost of so doing is $1.9 billion
U.S. Egypt does not have this
kind of cash.
Indeed Egypt has to spend
at least a billion dollars a year, to
-import food to feed the popula-
tion. Its chief supplier of wheat,
Australia, has now ceased to
extend credit. The wheat must
now be paid for in hard cash
prior to shipping.
In addition Egypt over the
years, has accumulated a massive
foreign debt. The estimations of
the total vary, but most commen-
tators put the figure at over $14
billion U.S. At least a third of this
debt is owed to the Soviet Union.
The desperate economic con-
ditions have, not surprisingly,
given rise to desperate social
conditions. For Egypt 1975 was a
year of almost unceasing turmoil
and strife.
All over Egypt at some time
in the last year, students, factory
workers and the unemployed came
out into the streets in protest
demonstrations. On many occasions
these ended with bloody clashes
with the police.
In March of 1975 for example,
it has been reported, that 16,000
workers at the Mehalla el Kobra
the largest industrial center in
Egypt, went on strike and occu-
pied and closed the largest factory.
Two days later, when security
forces were brought in there was

doesn'tt enjoy such good relations w

Assad.
an uprising in the whole town. It
took some 4,500 troops to bring
the town under control. Between
50 to 60 people were killed and
many more wounded.
Sadat's response to these.
problems, has been to blame
"leftist elements" and to promise
more doses of "Law and order".
Sadat, however, understands
that the problems are real and law
and order is not enough. And it is
in this context that we must view
Sadat's new approach to foreign
policy.
Sadat's break with the Soviet
Union and his current embrace of
the United States reflects nothing
so much as his desperate need to
get money from anywhere.
In the first place, Sadat was
angered over the Soviet. Union's
refusal to grant a ten-year mora-

torium on debt-repayments similar
to one granted Syria-in 1974.
The repayments, on the
Soviet debt alone, would cost
Egypt about $300 million U.S. a
year. Some commentators suggest
that Sadat's break with the Soviet's
was prompted by the desire to-
escape these payments.
Sadat is now pursuing what
he calls the policy of "infitah" or
open door. He is looking for aid
and investment from wherever he
can get it. He has said that he
would like to turn to whichever
powerbloc he wants.
This far, he has received
substantial sums from West Ger-
many, France and China.
In addition he is conducting
a serious program of .diplomacy
among the oil-rich southern states
of the Middle East. He has

eran fresklent Boumedienne (centre) and Syrian

received assistance from Saudi-
Arabia, Kuwait and Iran.
But ,all of the aid which
Sadat has received so far is but a
drop in the bucket of his needs.
Sadat's main hope is really the
United States.
Thus far however that source
has not produced the hoped for
gains. Sadat continues to play up
to them however.
At this stage, Sadat has
brought Egypt all the way around
from the traditional Egyptian
policies. Rejecting whatever there
remained of Nasser's socialism, he
is now speaking of making Egypt
a "pluralist democracy".
The price he has paid is high.
Loss of prestige and the antagon-
ism of the radical Arab forces.
His is a desperate gamble. And
the time is running out for him to
make it work.

Comment

by Fillip

DEAR FRIENDS, I
have returned. Let me
hasten to. offer my
humblest apologies to
all of you who felt
some sense of depriva--
tion during my absence.
I can assure you all'
that the last thing I
want to do is to betray
the expectations of my
readers.
But friends as some
of you might have

New

Tapia

Jerseys

0 S1.

$5.00

They posing on TV so

much they could model

guessed from reading
the last letter to you all,
Fillip was in the midst
of a great depression
and I am not mean
enough to try to inflict
my burdens on you
dear, dear people.
Since I last spoke to
you, I am sure that you
must have noticed that
the tempo has heated
up even more. In part-
icular, the Government
is running as they would
say in the wild west
days, "hell bent for
leather" or some such

cute phrase.
But let me be more
specific. When I say that
the Government is run-
,ning hard, what I really
mean is that they are
now showing, just to
what a great extent
they control the national
media.
Like I have- men-
-tioned to you before,
everytime you turn on
the television to watch
the "news", you are
treated to a parade of
the ministers, running
here, speaking there,
doing shitall, anywhere.
Somebody told me
*the: other day that the
Government ministers
are getting so much
practice posing for the

W.H. PAUL

For

Tailoring
6 A Boissere

I LaneBelmont

cameras, that if they
lose the elections they
could get together and
open a modelling school.
But of '.course the
man who is really
making the most gam-
bage, is none other than
our dear friend, Wild
Bill himself.
To be quite honest,
you have to admire the
man. After all he is
advancing in years but
he is still campaigning
like a trouper.
Today he here, to-
morrow he there. He
opening this, he closing
that. He praying in
church and he feteing
at rally. Is like he name
Clark Kent.
All he have to do is
go into a telephone
booth and whoosh he in
some new disguise.
I1 any of you don't
believe me, just send a
letter inviting h;in to
your child chlristening
or birthday party. I bet
you lie shows up, cravat
et.al.
But then between
you and mie, we should
not blame him.

In the first place if
any of those politicians
who running up and
down the place, (with
all due respects to my
friends in Tapia), really
want to get control of
the Government, then
they must realise that
nobody is going to give
it to them on a platter,
They have to earn it.
And Wild Bill is
probably doing every
body a favour by cam-
paigning so hard, and
so nasty by hogging all
the publicity. For what
this means is that fo[
another Party to make,
they have to get off
their asses and go out.
to the people.
So friends the next
few weeks before the
elections are going to be
a fun time for all of
us.
The various parties
shall be knocking on
our doors at all hours
of the day and night.
Let me tell you,
don't give none of them
an easy time. Not even if
you like them and
going to vote for them.
For in most cases it
will be the first time
you will be seeing them.
And fortunately in most
cases it will also be the
last.
lIto each liuf a little
rain must fall.

74" k- '.-', `-T."P
-The Sonic Harps panyard is the scene of this group photograph showing the people involved in PAN DE VELLOPMIENT UIVLIM1hDED. Third from left in the back row, can be seen
Scofield Pilgrim, with Barry Yeates (hands around Amral Khan), sixth from left. From row snows Jonn Chow at left, who is the assistant to Mervyn Ray (fourth from left), the
resident pan tuner on tie-course.

GETS OFF THE

A. HARRIS
"DAMM FAST and out of
place to say that panmen are
not interested in music."

THIS was the response I
got from Barry Yeates
about Aubrey Adams.'
Barry wa5 incensed that
the Cultural Adviser to
the Government could
say that panmen are not
interested in music.
This reaction was un-
derstandable, coming
from the man who has
been the guiding light
behind Pan Development
Unlimited.
SBecause at the Sonic
Harps panyard, what is
one of the first attempts
to train panmen is being
made.
CONCEPT

The story, according
to Barry, goes back to
August 1975, when Pan
Trinbago removed him
as Secretary of' the
Panorama Planning Com-
mittee.
"After my removal, I
was faced with two
choices", relates Barry,
"one was to fight Pan
Trinbago, on what was
really a petty issue, and
the other was to seek
financial help 'for the
development of the pan-
min..

"There was really only
the second choice," so
Barry went to Amral
Khan whom he saw "as a
man who had skilfully
exploited the pan and
had .as a result, projected
pan worldwide."
According to Barry,
he discovered that his
and Amral's concept of
the steelband "more or
- less the same"
The first discussion
between the two was in
December. By January
their ideas had begun to
take shape.
They agreed eo prin-
ciple to the creation of a
steelband co-op for local
and international pur-
poses.
With the enthusiastic
support of Amral Khan
and $10,000 promised as
financial backing, a
course for potential pan-
tuners was begun in
March 1976.

OBLIGATION

The 12 students, who
are under no obligation,
embarked on a 10-week
programme of learning to
read music under Scofield
Pilgrim.
After this period, the
students who attend
classes twice a week, will

, move on to various other
subjects like business
law, steelband administra-
tion and musical arrange-
ment.
One of the ideas, is
that, at the end of the
course students can be
sent to any part of the
world, fully qualified to
handle any aspect of
steelband business.

In any case, it is hoped
that the students will
become foundation mem-
bers of the proposed
co-op.
Barry feels confident
that the pan tuners course,
which was chosen because
of the critical need for
it, "would' help in bring-
ing the steelbandsman to
the full realisation of his

potential," and show
that there need not be
such-reliance Government
help.
I got the impression
that Barry was proud of
what had been achieved
so far and believed him,
when he said that Pan
Development Unlimited.
meant to bring all pub-
lished projects to fruition.

IF THERE is to be
another "great debate
like the mammoth
occasion of October 1974
between Lloyd Best of
TaDia and James Mans-
well of the PSA, it prob-

ably won't happen again
under the sponsorship of
lawyer Joseph Pantor
who-chaired and spon-
sored the 1974 one.
"Party discipline" will
no doubt prevent Mr.

Will Pantor

WILL Joseph Pantor
step forward and do t
the honours again?
Mr. -Pantor could
not be reached at press unconfirmed
time, but the guess in making the p
Tapia circles is No. rounds at press
While most of Tapia that calypsonia
never subscribed to the Lord Valentino
notion thatPantor was. -contesting the I
part of the "rigging" Spain South se
of the 1974 debate now held by 1
with Manswell, it was Williams on
widely felt at the time ticket.
that the lawyer-politi- T h e "p
cal impresario's sym- calypsonians-syn
pathies were not with have been
Tapia. thought to lie w
Meanwhile another NJAC who hav

Pqntor, one of recently
announced DAC candi-
dates, from lending his
support to a debate
between Lloyd Best and
the Minister of Finance,
Prime Minister Dr. Eric
Williams.
The last time it was
Manswell who gave the
challenge. This time it is

be doing

again?

report
political
time is
an the
will be
Port-of-
eat -
Dr. E.E.
a DAC

rotest"
mpathies
widely
'ith the
ve held

to an ideological stance
against contesting
elections.
But in two of his
calypsoes No' Revolu-
tion of 1971 and
Third World of 1973
there were favourable
references to "Mister
ANR Robinson".
Earliest reaction to
this report from one
calypso lover was: "Oh
Jeezan! That's the end
of good calypsonian."

Best challenging Williams
or "the Senior Minister
in the Ministry of
Finance or the Junior
Minister in the Ministry
or all of them put
together"to a debate on
"the health of the T&T
dollar".
Best's challenge came
in a press release on May
5 in. which the Tapia
Secretary vowed to appear
"anytime, any place" to
debate the burning issue

> '. ^ *. '

(, -~ ?:.
--2.

'-Lord Va. en 'tin
Lord Valen tino

of the Trinidad and
Tobago dollar.
"After all," remarked
Best, "the Government
came to power on a pro-
gramme of political edu-
cation."
He called for a definite
answer in 48 hours, noting
that "it is a full year
since devaluation hit we a
blow, a full year since
the Government has been
thinking what to do."
T&T DOLLAR

The Tapia. Secretary
suggested that the Great
Debate he proposed
might provide the Gov-
ernment with the answer.
Referring to the
Government's recent
enthusiasm about "mobil-
isation of financial
resources", Best said that.
the first step ,in that
direction was "the res-
toration to health cf the
T&T dollar".
However, he pointed
out, "what has not been
achieved -after five terms,
of administration, .20
budgets and three deve-
lopment plans canhardly
be conjured up by magic
in the five weeks before
the next election."

SAN JUAN

WEST
The opening of the
Constituency Office, of
San Juan West takes
place this weekend at
Second Caledonia Road
Extension.
The highlights are a
weekend market on
Saturday at 5.30 p.m.,
and a Sunday happening
in West Indian music
from 2.00 p.m.
to 2.00 a.m.,
featuring Potential
Symphony Orchestra, and
D.J.'s Cool and Hackshaw.

Hush-hush lectures on new constitution

Continued From Page One

O QWTU President George
Weekes in San Femando.
TAPIA has not learnt
of any reply,, and Sir
Ellis signed into law the
Republican Constitution
Bill on which there had
been not the least opport-
unity given for public
discussion.
Lecturing on the con-
stitution to airline hos-
tesses is a strange kind of
role for a head of state.
The Trinidad and
Tobago Constitution
Amendment Act, 1076

on which Sir Ellis is
lecturing was passed by
the Parliament against
the expressed wishes of
all the significant opposi-
tion political groups in
the country.
QUALIFIED

The United People's
Front which channelled
the opposition to the
Republic Bill also included
at least three community
organizations.
The Republic Bill- was
also the reason for a
protest boycott of the
courts by the country's
lawyers.

Sir Ellis, himself a
lawyer, is eminently
qualified to lecture on
the Republican Constitu-
tion.

CHAMPAGNE

"It has gone down
very well," was how a
BWIA official described
the GG's sessions with
the hostesses.
The lectures were
designed to enable the
BWIA gfrls "to answer
intelligently. People have
all sorts of strange con-
cepts of what a Republic
is," the official explained.
The Governor General

reportedly told the girls
last Wednesday that the
next General Elections
would be held after the
Republic had been pro-
claimed.
He would himself act
as President of the new
Republic until the Elec-
toral College elects the
President.
At Governor General's
House the "your kind of
people" BWIA girls sip-
ped champagne and
listened to how they
should reply "intelli-
gently" to passengers"
questions about the new
Trinidad and Tobago
Republic.

TAPIA understands
that some of the girls
don't like the idea of
having to attend the
lectures as part of their
official duties.

BLOODY MARY

Others felt last Wed-
nesday they had learnt
nothing new. One hostess
reportedly told the
Governor General he had
low-rated her intelligence
by making some point on
the constitution.
Always the ladies' man,
Sir Ellis smiled and
offered another Bloody
Mary.